In finance, an index is a numerical value representing the performance of a selected financial group. Indices, for example, are used to represent the changes in the price of securities of a group of stocks having a common characteristic. Examples of indices that are used to gauge the performance of stocks and other securities in the United States include the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) Composite Index, Standard and Poor's (S&P) 500 and S&P Mid-Cap and S&P Small-Cap. Currently, there are no existing indices that use projected population growth as the basis for a stock's inclusion within an index.